is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher and the former manager of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of Nippon Professional Baseball. Known for his longevity as a player, he holds the NPB records for longest career with 29 seasons played, most consecutive seasons with at least one win with 23 and is the oldest pitcher to strike out 10 batters in a game, doing so at the age of 41 years and 11 months. In his career, he recorded 224 wins, a 3.45 ERA and 2,852 strikeouts. However, despite all his accolades, he is infamously known for having never won the Eiji Sawamura Award, given to Japan's top pitcher. Kudo has been a part of 16 Japan Series championships, 11 as a player and 5 as a manager. As a player, he was a member of the Seibu Lions Golden Age, winning 8 championships in 11 years, and won one championship with Fukuoka Daiei Hawks and two with Yomiuri Giants. As a manager, he has led the Hawks to five Japan Series championships in six years, winning in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 Kudo has won the Matsutaro Shoriki Award, given annually to the person who is deemed to have contributed the most to baseball in Japan, 4 times, once as a player in 1987 and 3 times as a manager in 2015, 2018 and 2019. He was also known as the last active player on the Lions from the "Invincible Seibu" era. Kudo was born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. For the English spelling of his last name, "Kudo" and "Kudoh" are used regularly and interchangeably. Technically, both are correct as there is no straight letter-for-letter translation because it is a series of Japanese characters. His preference for the spelling on the back of his uniform was "Kudoh" as a player and "Kudo" as a manager. Playing career 1981-1994: Seibu Lions 1981-84: Early years with Seibu Kudo was a 6th-round pick in the 1981 draft, and signed a contract with the Lions when his father was given a job by team owner Yoshiaki Tsutsumi. He made his NPB debut with the parent club in 1982. He was used as a reliever in his first three seasons. The Lions were a strong club at the beginning of the Golden Age, and won the 1982 and 1983 Japan Series championships. Kudo made one appearance in each series. In game 6 of the